“Good luck,Caleb, and keep us posted,” Ophelia called after him.
He was toopreoccupied to hear her.
He opened theirfront door and stepped outside, then spread his wings to their fullspan and took off, revelling in not only the power of flight butthe power of love too.
There wasnothing he wanted more than to land on Evie’s rusty fire escape andsee her again, but he had things to plan first.
He needed to dothis right. Everything depended on it.
ChapterTen
Evie enteredthe nightclub foyer for her date with the demon, Malcolm.
She giggled toherself. She really must get over how daft his name sounded.
Mary had passedcomment on her outfit when she’d paid a visit to the hospital tosee Lucy and the other kids before her date. The ward sister saidshe looked like Sandy in the end scene in Grease; black,skin-tight leather trousers and an off-the-shoulder top she’d foundat the back of her wardrobe. The only difference being, Evie woreher usual chunky boots with the laces up the shins, and her wings,of course. Not gold-tipped ones, but she’d given up on that dreamsince she’d still not heard a peep from her supposed teacher turnedtraitor, Caleb Pearce.
To her surpriseand amusement, Mary had scooted off to her locker and produced apair of pillar-box red stilettos in her size. She’d said she keptthem for when she went for drinks after work, and Evie was welcometo borrow them.
Evie didn’thave the heart to tell her she couldn’t walk in heels, but shehadn’t refused them either. The mood she was in, she decided itwouldn’t hurt to live a little dangerously.
Tottering onthe high heels, she climbed the steel stairs that led from thefoyer up to the nightclub.
Sweaty bodiesgyrated in time with the music so loud she couldn’t hear herselfthink.
Malcolm—Straight face, Evie—had arranged to meet her by thebar.
Peering intothe darkness, she couldn’t see him, so she weaved through thecrowds.
Halfway acrossthe dancefloor, she tripped in the ridiculously high heels.
Her ankletwisted beneath her, but rather than fall flat on her face,anything but that, she twisted it back again to right herself. Herwings, cloaked by the magic veil, opened behind her, an instinctualreflex, which knocked a few people off balance, their expressionsshowing their confusion as to what had brushed against them.
Out of nowhere,a guy looped his arm around her waist and steadied her.
Musky colognesurrounded her as he leaned in close to her ear. “Hi, you must beEvie.” His hot breath tickled her neck.
Evie couldhardly hear him above the music. She pulled away to look at him.Her date flashed a lopsided smile that made her belly flutter.
The demon’sprofile picture did not do him justice. Reasonably good lookingdidn’t come close. The guy oozed sex appeal, and his black eyesgleamed with wickedness.
“Malcolm, hi.”His name didn’t sound so daft now either.
“Are you okay?”he asked, leaning in close again.
“Fine, thanks.”She wasn’t. Her ankle hurt like Hell. And maybe that’s where shewas going for dating a demon. She wanted to live dangerously,didn’t she?
“Fancy adrink?” he shouted.
She nodded,doing her best not to hobble across the dancefloor, but shestumbled again.
Malcolm noticedand looped his arm around her waist once more.
Scorching heatradiated through his silk shirt.
Oh,boyo.
Her cheekswarmed as he led her to the bar and sat on a barstool.
“What can I getyou?”
“A red wine,please.”
“Wine, surelynot? The most beautiful angel in the club deserves to be drinkingthe finest champagne.”
A glance aroundconfirmed she was the only angel, but she didn’t correct him, tooconcerned by the throbbing in her ankle.
Malcolm ordereda bottle of champagne—she dreaded to think what extortionate pricesthe nightclub charged. He leaned over the bar and said something tothe barman, then handed him a wad of notes.
Overpriced,clearly.
Evie would havebeen fine with the red wine, and champagne always went to her head,but who was she to argue?
The barmanfetched the champagne, placed two flute glasses on the counter andfilled them.
Malcolm handeda champagne flute to her. “Are you okay?” he asked again.
“Yeah, it’s hotin here, that’s all,” she said, waving her hand in front of herface. The nightclub was stifling with all the sweaty bodies, butshe had a feeling a certain demon’s body heat had something to dowith it too. He was standing very close.
Each timeMalcolm spoke, he leaned in even closer. His firm body keptbrushing against hers.
She drank herchampagne quicker than she should; nodded and smiled at what shehoped were appropriate moments, but she barely caught what he wassaying above the blaring music.
Malcolm hardlytouched his champagne. He regarded her for several seconds asthough assessing her.
His intensestare incited a prickling sensation up her spine, but she wasn’tsure if she liked it or not.
He cupped herelbow, his touch persistent and hot. “Would you like some freshair?” His breath puffed her hair against her neck. Without waitingfor her answer, he lowered his voice to an evil snarl. “You willcome to the roof terrace with me.”
He spoke thewords like a command, a compulsion she could not ignore. Warningsignals blared inside her head, but Evie nodded as if he’d somehowput her in a trance. Could demons do that?
She stood andlost her balance, wincing as pain shot through her ankle. How muchchampagne had she drunk? She knew she should have insisted onwine.
With demonicspeed, Malcolm scooped her up.
Evie gasped butdidn’t protest, drawn to his fiery body heat like she had nochoice. What am I doing? This isn’t right.
Her wingsdrooped. Malcolm carried her through the crowds and up another setof steel steps to the roof terrace.
The suddenblast of cold air made her shiver, but Malcolm’s body heatcounteracted the chill.
The roofterrace, although not as crowded as the nightclub, played host to ahandful of people shrouded in cigarette smoke.
Evie’s eyesstung, and her vision blurred. The gross taste of smoke coated hertongue. So much for the fresh air.
Malcolm put herdown and helped her hobble to a quieter corner where another guysat at a small table with his back to them. He wasn’t smoking,thankfully.
“I’d like tointroduce you to my brother,” said Malcolm.
The guy turnedaround.
Evie did adouble take. Twins? She looked from one brother to theother. She
